Acetylene-gas burner.



PATENTED MAR. 22, 1904.

G. M. LAUDER, AGETYLENE GAS BURNER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented March 532,

GEORGE MARSH LAUDER, OF GLASGOW, SCOTLAND.

ACETYLENE-GAS BURNER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 755,503, dated March 22, 1904. Application filed September 19, 1903. Serial No. 173,887. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, GEORGE MARSH LAUDER, a subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 15 Gordon street, Glasgow, Scotland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Acetylene-Gas Burners, of which the following is a specification. V

This invention has for its object to improve the construction and insure effective action of acetylene-gas burners; and it is equally applicable to burners of any of the usual forms, such as the bifurcated or duplex-jet and the Argand or multiple-jet types.

A special feature of the invention is the construction of the burner-body of white metal or like alloy, which does not retain heat, and the jet-nozzles in the form of nipples composed of platinum or ofa metal coated with platinum at the point of ignition of the gas, the nipples, owing to their formation of metal, being adapted to be made of extremely small size in relation to the size of outlet and ignition orifices, so that they do not present large bodies for the retention of heat and can be suitably formed to provide for the admission of air and to throw oif condensing particles of moisture.

Acetylene-gas burners at present on the market are mostly made of steatite, porcelain, and other forms of clays and of copper and alloys containing a high percentage of copper,

and these burners have given trouble, owingto their carbonizing and choking up, from the following causes: When the burners are made from steatite and other clays-qi. 6., from the base parts up to the point of ignition-the gas passing through the base made from these clays, which retain a very high temperature, gets broken up into benzene and other higher hydrocarbons,some of which are liquid. These pass up with the acetylene gas and cause carbonizing at the point of ignition, where the flame throws out these impurities. The burner being made up of these clays around the point of ignition creates a high temperature, and the material of which it is composed, being porous, soaks in the moisture and liquid hydrocarbons, which leaves a deposit of carbon. These deposits of carbon collect and finally choke up the burners, while the heat at the point of ignition lessens the illuminating power. If the base parts of these burners are made of alloys, such as brass containing a high percentage of copper, and the points of ignition above the gas-outlet are made of clays, then these parts, consisting of brass and such like alloys, corrode. The corrosive deposits are apt to be carried up with the heat and are liable to choke the burner, and although the brass or copper parts are not of so high a temperature and are not so liable to break up the gas when the gas comes to the point of ignition it meets the steatite, which has a high temperature such as to break up the gas while absorbing the moisture and collecting a deposit of carbon to choke the burner. To avoid these objections, the base'or body of the burner constructed in accordance with my invention is made of metal whose temperature remains lower than that attained when clays are used and is not such as to break up the acetylene gas; but as some metals are apt to corrode I make the base of my burner of nickel, silveroid, or such like alloys which contain a low percentage of copper and do not corrode, so that a low temperature is maintained, no corrosive deposits take place, and choking up from this cause is prevented. The jet-orifices for the gas are composed of short metallic nipples, which are of tubular form and are screwed or otherwise secured in the burnerbody. The nipples are each formed with a narrow gas-passage which may taper toward the point of ignition, lateral air-admission orifices being formed at intermediate points in the length of the nipple. The nipples may be made entirely of platinum or of a baser metal coated with platinum; but in every case they are formed of platinum or coated with platinum at the tips or points of ignition, the use of platinum at this point beyond the gasoutlet constituting a special feature of my burner and oifering the following advantages: The gas passing up through the base part or body of the burner, made of nickel or like alloy, and coming to the point of ignition where it meets with a surface of platinum at a low temperature is not broken up or dissociated to form hydrocarbons, so that carbonizing from this cause is avoided. If moisture be present in the gas and being thrown out at the point of ignition above the gas-outlet falls on the platinum, it neither can soak into it nor can it corrode the platinum. Thus by the use of platinum at the point of ignition a burner is produced that avoids carbonizing by having a low temperature at the point of ignition, owing to the platinum being a good radiator of heat and not retaining the heat like copper or alloys with a high percentage of copper and steatite or like materials, while by having a low temperature at the point of ignition the gas is not broken up, whereby a higher illuminating power is obtained.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, Figure l is a vertical section showing an improved burner of the ordinary bifurcated form. Fig. 2 is a like view of a small-size burner of the same type. 3 and 4: are respectively a vertical section and plan of an Argand burner as constructed in accordance with my invention, and Figs: 5 and 6 are like views of a modified form of the Argand type of burner.

As shown at Figs. 1 and 2, the nipples a, formed as described, may be secured in the ordinary bifurcated form of burner-body I) in making up a duplex burner or in a burnerbody composed of a plurality of branches to form a multiple-jet burner, and the nipples may either-project and be formed with airadmission orifices a, as shown in Fig. 1, or they may be screwed into the burner-body, as shown at Fig. 2. In an Argand type of burner for obtaining very high illuminating power, such as is suitable for lighthouses, I prefer to construct the burner-body, as shown at Figs. 3 and 4:, of an annulus c, of nickel or alloy, connected to the gas-supply pipe at 03 by tu- Figs.

bular branches d, the annulus being composed of a trough-shaped lower part 0 and an inclosing cover 0', fitted thereto for convenience of attaching the platinum or platinum coated nipples a, which are screwed or otherwise secured in the cover 0 in two or more concentric rows, as shown, the nipples of one row being located opposite the spaces between the nipples of theadjoining row, so that a continuous ring of luminous flame may be produced when the gas is burned.

, In the modification of the Argand burner shown at Figs. 5 and 6 the nipples and annulus are replaced by an annular trough (2, connected by branches d with the gas-supply at d, the trough being formed with perforations at e in the bottom for the overflow of the gas and lateral orifices 0 around it for admission of air tomingle with the gas above the gas-outlets e.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is'.

An acetylene gas burner comprising a burner-body of base metal, said burner-body consisting of an annular trough 0, tubular branches d connecting the space within said trough to the gas-supply pipe,,a cover 0 inclosing the space within said trough, said cover being provided with concentric rows of orifices and nipples having a platinum surface secured in said orifices, said nipples being formed with axial gas-passages and lateral air- 

